Wizard of Oz: 2758
by The Philosophic Professor
Summary: The Wizard of Oz set in the year 2758, where Dorothy's family are scavengers living on an abandoned outpost on an asteroid. One day, a cyber shark attack leaves Dorothy drifting in space inside of her trusty fighter jet, Toto, with depleting oxygen, on her way to Oz.


Dorothy lived in the midst of the great Kansaian asteroid belt, with Uncle Henry, who was a scavenger, and Aunt Em, who was the scavenger's wife. Their home was small, for it was an abandoned outpost set atop a rather small asteroid. The outpost was known as SA-081 when it was staffed and operational. The asteroid belt of the Milky Way galaxy, while having been long since abandoned, was still ripe with old earth salvage and materials, such as steel, platinum, and silver. The outpost was comprised of five main buildings, the mess hall, two barracks, an armory, and a hangar.. The buildings were surrounded by a large sheet metal wall, with a tall watch tower standing in the northeast corner of the wall. Henry had constructed the wall over the years. The outpost still had the skeleton of a plasma shield, but vital components have long since gone missing. Luckily enough for the family, the biodome that kept the outpost livable was still in working order.

Dorothy was allowed one of the barracks, and her parents shared the other. Each one consisted of a bed and a chest, which held the owner's personal effects. The mess hall stored the family's provisions and salvage, while the armory held the family's meager arsenal.

When Dorothy stood in the watch tower, she could see the vast grey expanses of the asteroid she called home, the blackness of space, and occasionally a passing asteroid or small planet. Not another man made structure broke the sweep of the asteroid and the background of space. The outpost consisted of dull, grey steel buildings with dull, grey sheet metal patchwork.

When Aunt Em came there to live she was a young, pretty wife. The harshness of space had changed her. It had taken the sparkle from her eyes and left them a sober grey, they had taken the red from her cheeks and her lips, they were grey also. She was thin and guant, and never smiled now.

When Em and Henry had first found Dorothy, alone, starving in in a bombed out town on another asteroid, Em was startled by the child's innocent and cheerful demeanor, despite her horrible situation.

Uncle Henry never laughed. Never smiled. He scavenged hard from day to night and did not know what joy was. He was grey also, from his beard to his rough boots. He looked stern and solemn, and rarely spoke.

It was Toto that filled Dorothy with joy, and saved her from growing as grey as her other surroundings. Toto was not grey. He was a midnight-black A-110. A fighter jet popular among scavengers for its storage capacity and speed. Dorothy flew Toto all day long, from the day Uncle Henry gave her that first flying lesson, she was hooked.

Today, however, they were not playing. Uncle Henry stood in the watch tower and stared anxiously into space. Dorothy was in the hangar, polishing Toto. Aunt Em was slaughtering a space skeasel for dinner.

From the far north they heard a low battle cry, and Uncle Henry and Dorothy could see what looked like an army of dots approaching the bio-dome. There came a sharp whistling in the air from the south, and as they turned their eyes they could see laser pulses slam into the bio-dome.

Uncle Henry stood up, "There's bandits coming, Em," he called to his wife. "I'll go get Toto ready." He ran to the hangar where Dorothy and Toto awaited.

Aunt Em dropped her work and ran to the armory, grabbing a simple laser repeater.

Dorothy had finished gearing up Toto by the time Henry made it to the hangar. She was already in her flight suit, and strapping herself into Toto's cockpit. Henry made sure Dorothy was ready, and Toto was armed before running off to the mess hall to grab their enviro suits.

When Dorothy took off, she could see Henry and Em on the ground below, enviro suits on, laser repeaters ready.

Suddenly, the bio-dome burst, making a resonating boom that was quickly silenced by the oppressive vacuum of space.

Dorothy flew through the top of the shattered bio-dome, ready to confront the trespassers.

When she reached the attacking force, she discovered it wasn't bandits, but cyborg sharks, led by a gargantuan cyber whale, whose massive plasma cannon was smoking, obviously the cause of the bio-dome's destruction.

Her vision was flooded with red streaks narrowly missing her, the cyborg sharks unleashing a salvo of inaccurate laser pulses.

Dorothy let loose a counter salvo of grape-shot missiles, which exploded shortly before they reached the shark fleet, and sent forth hundreds of flechette darts which ripped through the cyber shark group, tearing flesh from titanium bone.

The sharks sent forth yet another stream of inaccurate laser fire, enraged by the sight of their fallen comrades' blood.

Dorthy fought, but became distracted by the scene below, Auntie Em was ripped in half, with Uncle Henry sent into a blood rage, beating a shark to death with his hands.

"Auntie, no!" She screamed. She was so distracted and grief ridden, she failed to notice the cyber shark barreling towards her. He bit into Toto, strong titanium teeth and jaws ripping through the fighter jet effortlessly.

Dorothy screamed as she lost control of Toto, several vital systems severely damaged by the cyber shark's bite. The oxygen tanks had been ruptured, causing a severe and irreversible leak, dooming Dorothy to a slow death of asphyxiation. Eventually Toto drifted away from the battle. The last thing she was able to see before blacking out was her Uncle Henry being shredded by several cyber sharks.


End file.
